A family member had two trees damaged during a storm and my spouse and I got talking about it. I decided to go there and see if I could help. That became my Monday.

I organized my trip better than most. If I hadn’t gone to Des Moines, I could have traveled to the Karakoram mountain range between Pakistan and China with my gear and attempted a summit of K-2. I did forget to pack a hat, some work gloves, and a spare chain for the chainsaw, so maybe not K-2… yet.

Instead, I spent a couple of hours climbing on fallen trees, taking photographs, and assessing the situation. I concluded the job was too big for a single person like me to do.

The trip did give me four hours of windshield time to view giant fields of corn nearing harvest, and to avoid getting run off the road by 18-wheelers. That and listen to the radio.

The Des Moines station played music with which I am not familiar. They had Taylor Swift on repeat, singing “The Fate of Ophelia,” few words of which I could understand as it played. Others on repeat were Dua Lipa, Zara Larsson, The Weeknd, and others whose music I didn’t know. I couldn’t understand a word of what most of them sang.

I always enjoy Bruno Mars and they played different songs featuring him. He enunciates clearly, so the songs tell an engaging story. Another repeat was Ella Langley’s popular “Choosin’ Texas” which is hailed by many as “the best country song in a long time.” They played two of her other songs, which made her seem like a one-hit wonder. I do like the song about her sitting at a bar by herself drinking whisky and accepting her fate.

The reason for the pop music stations was I couldn’t stand to listen to news radio. By that, I mean the free stuff that everyone with a device can access. In past years, I listened to National Public Radio and the Iowa affiliates in the car, but any more, their “announcers” are difficult to listen to. I think you have to be part of their personality cult to understand the relevance of what they are saying. I never could engage with the likes of Ben Kieffer on River to River, although friends give it rave reviews.

Like with everything, our lives are changing. This trip, I was well-equipped for tasks I did not have to perform. I was kidding about K-2. A good friend had his photo taken at a base camp near the mountain. So this is not me blathering on. There is a reality in the discussion of equipment and expeditions. One can’t say the same about the unintelligible pop music stars with songs on repeat in the middle of the day.